PA Daily｜Space responds to controversy and will refund $7.3 million in excess funds; FIGHT will refund IC0 participants and airdrop tokens
Today’s Headlines:
David Sacks: Banks and the crypto industry will eventually merge into a “digital asset industry”
Bloomberg: Wall Street institutions are withdrawing from Bitcoin “buy-and-sell arbitrage” trades
Space responds to community questions about fundraising limits and refund transparency, decides to return $7.3 million in excess funds
$FIGHT will fully refund IC0 participants and airdrop tokens simultaneously
David Sacks: Banks and the crypto industry will eventually merge into a “digital asset industry”
Vitalik proposes “Native DVT Staking” to enhance Ethereum’s security and decentralization
“Insider Whale 1011” agent: Increased institutional participation does not end the crypto bull market but shifts from speculation to allocation
CZ’s Davos speech: Partial reserve systems are the root cause of bank liquidity crises; physical bank demand will sharply decline over the next decade
Regulation & Macro
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee prioritizes housing issues; crypto legislation is expected to be delayed until February or March
According to Bloomberg, influenced by the Trump administration’s push for “affordable housing” policies, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will prioritize related housing legislation. The crypto market structure bill initially scheduled for review soon has been postponed again, possibly until late February or March. Despite Trump’s public support for the crypto industry, housing costs remain a key factor in U.S. inflation and election prospects. Meanwhile, the agriculture committee version of the crypto bill was released Wednesday and is scheduled for review on January 27, but Democratic senator Cory Booker has not endorsed it, indicating future legislative efforts may face more disagreements.
David Sacks: Banks and the crypto industry will eventually merge into a “digital asset industry”
According to CoinDesk, White House crypto and AI advisor David Sacks stated that once new market structure legislation passes, U.S. banks will widely adopt cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins. He predicts the boundary between banks and the crypto industry will disappear, ultimately merging into a “digital asset industry.” Sacks notes that many large banks are currently cautious due to unclear regulations, but legislation will provide a clear framework for institutional participation. He believes banks may see issuing stablecoins as a way to generate yields and compete with fintech firms. Although banks are currently lobbying against allowing companies to earn yields on stablecoins, Sacks expects that in the future, banks will also favor stablecoin businesses to pay yields.
Trump: Will soon announce new Fed chair candidate but worries about disloyalty after taking office
According to Bloomberg, citing foreign media, U.S. President Trump spoke at the Davos World Economic Forum about the Federal Reserve. Trump explicitly stated that his nominee for Fed chair will be male. This aligns with the current shortlist: White House economic advisor Kevin Hasset, Fed Governor Christopher Waller, former Fed officials Kevin Woeh and Rick Reeder of BlackRock. Trump said, “I will announce a new Fed chair soon. He will be a man. I think he will do very well and be highly respected.” He added, “Every candidate for Fed chair has had great interviews. But the problem is, once he takes office, he will change his stance, which is somewhat disloyal. Once someone gets the Fed chair position, the changes can be astonishing. Overall, Fed Chair Powell has been too slow on interest rate actions. I hope the new Fed chair will do his job well.”
Earlier, Trump said he hopes to sign a crypto bill soon; U.S. inflation has been beaten, with core inflation at 1.5%.
European Parliament announces indefinite freeze on EU-US trade agreement review
According to Bloomberg, on January 21, European Parliament International Trade Committee Chair Lange announced that review of the EU-US trade agreement will be indefinitely frozen. Lange stated that the European Parliament negotiating team decided to suspend review work on the EU-US trade deal. He said that the EU’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are currently under threat, making normal review impossible.
Vietnam begins trial of formal licensing system for crypto asset exchanges
According to Cryptonews, Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance issued a resolution this week to pilot a formal licensing system for crypto exchanges, aiming to bring the industry out of long-standing legal gray areas into a regulatory framework. The resolution states that the Securities Commission will be responsible for issuing, adjusting, and revoking licenses for crypto asset exchanges, with detailed application guidelines published. The system requires applicants to be domestic Vietnamese companies with minimum paid-in capital of 10 trillion VND (about $380 million), and meet strict standards for infrastructure, governance, cybersecurity, and professional staff. About 10 securities firms and banks have expressed plans to enter the market after obtaining licenses, including SSI Securities, VIX Securities, MBBank, Techcombank, and VPBank, which have set up subsidiaries or partnered with tech firms.
Bank of Italy governor: Stablecoins can only serve as a supplement in the monetary system
According to Cointelegraph, Fabio Panetta, governor of the Bank of Italy, said that commercial bank money and central bank money will continue to be the cornerstone of the monetary system, with stablecoins only playing a supplementary role. He pointed out that the stability of stablecoins ultimately depends on their peg to fiat currency, which limits their ability to operate independently within the financial system. Panetta believes that payments have become a core strategic area for banks; amid shifting global economic focus towards technological power and increasing geopolitical fragmentation, digital finance exerts pressure on banks. The Bank of Italy remains cautious on stablecoins. Its vice governor previously warned that “multi-issuer stablecoins” issued across jurisdictions could pose legal, operational, and financial stability risks to the EU, and should be restricted within regions with equivalent regulatory standards and strict reserve requirements.
Gensy Island authorities seize $11.4 million related to OneCoin scam
According to Decrypt, the Gensy Island authorities, under the UK’s Crime (Asset Recovery) Act and at the request of German Bielefeld authorities, approved the confiscation of $11.4 million (about £9 million) linked to the OneCoin fraud case. The funds are held in an account at RBS International Bank on Gensy Island. This seized amount accounts for only about 0.2% of the total losses from OneCoin, reflecting the difficulty of fully recovering assets in crypto fraud cases.
South Korean prosecutors lose large amounts of seized Bitcoin, potential loss up to $48 million
According to Ohmynews, the Gwangju District Prosecutors Office in South Korea recently discovered that a large amount of Bitcoin related to a criminal case was missing during a routine asset check, with estimated losses reaching hundreds of billions of Korean won (internal rumors mention about 70 billion KRW, approximately $48 million). The prosecutors stored Bitcoin-related passwords on portable storage devices, and the loss may have resulted from accidental access to a so-called “scam website” during inspection. The Gwangju District Prosecutors Office responded officially that they “cannot confirm” the incident. An internal investigation has been launched.
Project Updates
Vitalik proposes “Native DVT Staking” to improve Ethereum’s security and decentralization
According to The Block, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed “Native DVT Staking,” aiming to integrate Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) directly into Ethereum’s staking protocol to enhance network security and promote decentralization. The proposal allows validators to register multiple independent keys, which operate collectively as a single validator identity. Only when the number of signing entities reaches a set threshold are block proposals or attestations considered valid, reducing the risk of offline validators due to node failure or compromise. Unlike current DVT implementations relying on complex external coordination layers, this mechanism is embedded directly into the protocol. Validators holding at least multiple times the minimum stake can specify up to 16 keys and a signature threshold, effectively acting as a single validator through multiple standard nodes. Buterin notes this design adds only one round of delay for block production, with no additional delay for validation, and is compatible with any signature scheme. Long-term, it reduces reliance on potentially vulnerable cryptographic features. Besides simplifying technology, he believes this will lower the management difficulty of fault-tolerant staking, encouraging security-conscious individuals and institutions to stake independently rather than delegate to large providers, thus increasing the decentralization of Ethereum validators. The proposal is currently in the suggestion stage and requires community review.
F/m Investments applies for tokenized equity pilot with SEC
According to Bloomberg, F/m Investments has applied for an exemption from the U.S. SEC to record some of its $6.3 billion in U.S. Treasury 3-month ETF (ticker: TBIL) shares on the blockchain, becoming a test case for traditional asset tokenization. The application does not change the ETF’s holdings or trading methods but records shares on-chain in the background, ensuring fee, rights, and disclosure consistency. If approved, this will be a key test of integrating blockchain technology into the U.S. asset management system.
Uniswap launches Continuous Clearing Auction (CCA), deployed on Base chain
According to Uniswap Labs, the Continuous Clearing Auction (CCA) feature has been officially deployed on Base chain. Any developer can conduct fully on-chain token auctions via CCA on Uniswap v4, discovering real market prices and initiating liquidity. The feature is permissionless and free to use. Uniswap provides configuration guides to assist projects in quick integration.
Farcaster founding team departs, Neynar takes over protocol and app
According to CoinDesk, Dan Romero, co-founder of the decentralized social protocol Farcaster, announced that Neynar, an early infrastructure builder, will fully take over Farcaster, including protocol smart contracts, codebase, mobile app, and AI token issuance platform Clanker. Despite raising $150 million in 2024 from Paradigm and a16z, Farcaster has not achieved sustainable growth. Romero and some Merkle team members will exit daily operations, and Neynar will launch a new developer-focused roadmap.
Category Labs plans to buy back MON tokens on open market in H1 2026
Category Labs (formerly MonadLabs) announced on X that it may buy back up to $30 million worth of MON tokens on the open market in H1 2026, subject to applicable regulations. The buyback will be at the company’s discretion and can be initiated, paused, or terminated at any time. This announcement does not commit to purchasing a specific amount but indicates that Category Labs will consider opportunistic buybacks based on market conditions.
Ondo Finance expands tokenized US stocks and ETFs to Solana
According to CoinDesk, Ondo Finance announced expanding its tokenized stocks and ETF business to the Solana blockchain, bringing over 200 tokenized US stocks and ETFs to the network for the first time, further extending its Ondo Global Markets platform beyond Ethereum and BNB Chain.
Former FTX US president’s Architect plans to introduce crypto perpetual futures into AI compute market
According to The Block, Architect Financial Technologies, founded by former FTX US president Brett Harrison, plans to bring the popular crypto perpetual futures contracts into the AI compute market. Its AX exchange will soon launch perpetual futures anchored to GPU rental prices and memory prices, pending regulatory approval. These contracts aim to hedge price volatility and depreciation risks for AI companies, data centers, and hardware suppliers. They will be developed in partnership with Ornn Data, which provides real-time GPU trading indices. Positions can be margined with USD or stablecoins.
Space responds to community questions on fundraising limits and refunds, decides to return $7.3 million excess funds
Leverage prediction market Space issued a new official statement regarding recent token distribution, fundraising scale, and refunds. The project disclosed that the recent public sale attracted over $20 million, with 19.6% of tokens allocated from the community pool representing about $6.9 million FDV. To ensure fair distribution, the project will refund over $7.3 million of excess funds, explaining that some refund addresses were changed for security reasons. Funds will mainly be used for leverage pools, liquidity onboarding, security audits, team expansion, and CEX listings. Regarding fundraising scale, Space clarified that the previously mentioned $2.5 million was a soft cap, not a hard cap; the increased scale aims to support leverage market liquidity and long-term R&D. The community has raised questions about the project’s background, noting that the predecessor may be UFO Gaming, whose token has plummeted about 99% from its all-time high. Community members accuse Space of shifting from a failed gaming project to a prediction market, with no public or private test releases, and prioritizing Hyperliquid perpetual contracts, raising suspicion of exit scams. They also criticize the project for raising the public sale amount without prior notice and for many large refunds being sent to new addresses with no transaction history.
SagaEVM experiences security breach, approximately $7 million stolen and transferred to Ethereum
According to Saga, on January 21, 2026, SagaEVM was attacked, involving contract deployments, cross-chain operations, and liquidity extraction. The hacker transferred about $7 million worth of USDC, yUSD, ETH, and tBTC, which has been converted to ETH and transferred to address 0x2044…6ecb. After the incident, SagaEVM paused at block height 6593800. The team is working with exchanges and cross-chain bridges to block the address and will release a full technical review. Saga SSC mainnet and other chains remain unaffected.
$FIGHT will fully refund IC0 participants and airdrop tokens
Holoworld AI announced that, as the flagship project of Hololaunch.ai, $FIGHT will refund 100% of all IC0 participants and airdrop tokens to relevant users, demonstrating a community-first approach. Airdrops include IC0 participants on BNB Chain and Solana, x402 Fight Pass holders, Holler event participants, and $HOLO stakers. Total supply is 10 billion tokens, with 8.5 million (0.85%) allocated for the airdrop. Tokens will unlock gradually over time without user action. The project emphasizes strong capital backing and long-term development goals.
Later, Fight.ID announced that $FIGHT airdrop claims will open today at 20:00 and last for 30 days.
Hyperliquid launches SKR perpetual contracts, supporting up to 3x leverage
Decentralized derivatives platform Hyperliquid announced the launch of SKR perpetual contracts, allowing users to go long or short SKR with up to 3x leverage.
Binance fully launches Ripple USD (RLUSD), supporting Earn, fiat buy, spot trading, leverage, and VIP lending
According to Binance, RLUSD will be fully launched on January 22, 2026. It will support Binance Simple Earn savings, fiat purchases (including Visa/MasterCard, Apple Pay), zero-fee Convert swaps, leveraged futures (cross and isolated), and VIP lending. RLUSD/USDT trading will support leverage starting at 18:00 (Beijing time) on January 23. Users are advised to manage risks due to new coin volatility.
Binance will delist 20 spot trading pairs including AI/BTC, ALLO/BNB, APE/BTC, AUCTION/BTC, BOME/FDUSD, DYDX/FDUSD, ENA/BNB, FIL/ETH, ID/BTC, KITE/BNB, LDO/BTC, LRC/ETH, NMR/BTC, PENGU/FDUSD, PNUT/BTC, PYR/BTC, STRK/FDUSD, XVG/ETH, YFI/BTC, and ZIL/ETH on January 23
To maintain market quality, Binance will delist these pairs at 11:00 (Beijing time) on January 23, 2026.
Binance Alpha will list SPACECOIN (SPACE)
Binance will list ELSAUSDT perpetual contract at 15:25
Binance Wallet: Sentient (SENT) tokens will be tradable from 18:00 on January 22
Binance contracts will list ACUUSDT and “My Foot Is Coming” USDT perpetual contracts
Upbit will list trading pairs for HeyElsa(ELSA) in KRW, BTC, and USDT
Coinbase will list spot trading for Seeker (SKR)
Binance contracts will list SKRUSDT U-based perpetual contracts
Apple plans to launch Siri chatbot in iOS 27, possibly with free + subscription model
According to MacRumors, Apple plans to introduce a new Siri chatbot in iOS 27 during WWDC 2026, with features comparable to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, supporting content generation, image creation, file analysis, and device control. While it’s not yet clear if it will be paid, considering high AI computing costs, Apple may adopt a tiered pricing model similar to iCloud, offering a free basic version and paid subscriptions for advanced features, with monthly fees around $20. The Siri chatbot will be deeply integrated into the iOS ecosystem and could challenge existing AI market players.
Analysis & Opinions
CZ: Global unified crypto regulation is difficult; a regulatory passport system may be a feasible path
PANews, January 22: CZ said at the 2026 Davos Forum that current global crypto regulation varies greatly, and most countries have not established comprehensive licensing systems. He pointed out that the UAE, Bahrain, Kazakhstan are advancing forward-looking regulations, and the U.S. is pushing market structure bills, but due to capital controls and tax differences, a global unified regulator is unlikely. A regulatory passport system may be more feasible. CZ is working with multiple countries to explore balanced innovation and regulation. He also said that blockchain has proven its importance to finance and the global economy over the past 15-16 years. Binance now has 300 million users worldwide, with trading volume surpassing Shanghai and New York stock exchanges. He sees three future trends: asset tokenization (discussed with about a dozen governments), payment integration (merging crypto with traditional payments), and AI agent roles (crypto as native payment for AI automation).
Earlier, CZ’s Davos speech: Partial reserve systems are the root of bank liquidity crises; physical bank demand will sharply decline over the next decade.
Goldman Sachs raises year-end gold target to $5,400/oz, central bank demand continues to grow
Goldman Sachs raised its year-end gold price forecast to $5,400 per ounce, citing sustained demand from private investors and central banks. Analysts Daan Struyven and others wrote in the report that they increased the December 2026 target from $4,900 to $5,400, expecting central banks to buy 60 tons of gold monthly this year, and ETF holdings to continue expanding as the Fed cuts rates. They noted that central banks are “beginning to compete with private sector investors for limited physical gold supply via traditional ETF investments.” The report states that diversified private investors will continue to hold gold, which can offset global policy risks and support higher prices. These investors are unlikely to sell gold in 2026, raising the starting point for price forecasts. Julia Du, senior commodities strategist at ICBC Standard Bank, expects gold to rise to $7,150 per ounce.
“Insider Whale 1011” agent: Short-term decline in Ethereum cannot be attributed to Greenland event
Garrett Jin, “Insider Whale 1011” agent, posted on X that the U.S. stock market decline on Tuesday is not strongly related to the Greenland event. Although U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, the leading sectors were AI-related. In principle, this is just sector rotation driven by fundamentals within the tech industry, a micro-level logic, not panic selling driven by macro factors. The more significant driver of asset price volatility that day was the sell-off in the global bond market. The decline in European and U.S. bonds is related to the Greenland event, while the decline in Japanese government bonds was triggered by an independent proposal to cancel food consumption tax. Japanese financial institutions announced market stabilization measures, and the finance minister held talks with the U.S. to calm markets, leading to a rebound in Japanese bonds. The main reason for volatility in European and U.S. bonds was a report by Deutsche Bank analysts bearish on the dollar and U.S. debt, which raised concerns about reallocation of dollar assets. The U.S. Treasury responded that Deutsche Bank’s CEO had called to disapprove of the report, aiming to prevent a sharp sell-off of U.S. debt that could threaten dollar credibility. Later, Trump said he would not use force against Greenland, and stocks rebounded. In summary, if the short-term decline in ETH is attributed to the Greenland event, the basis is weak: the U.S. stock decline was mainly due to sector rotation; Trump has begun calming markets; and U.S. and Japanese officials have taken actions to stabilize the bond market.
Earlier, Garrett Jin said that increased institutional participation does not end the crypto bull market but shifts from speculation to allocation.
Bloomberg: Wall Street institutions are withdrawing from Bitcoin “buy-and-sell arbitrage” trades
According to Bloomberg, a key arbitrage trade in the crypto derivatives market is collapsing. Wall Street institutions previously used a “cash-and-carry” strategy, buying spot Bitcoin and selling futures to profit from price differences. Due to large capital inflows, the spread has narrowed sharply, and annualized returns have fallen from about 17% a year ago to around 4.7%, barely covering funding costs. As arbitrage profits shrink, the value of open Bitcoin futures contracts on CME has dropped significantly from its peak and has been overtaken by Binance. This mainly reflects strategic withdrawals by hedge funds and large U.S. accounts. Market maturity provides more tools for directional bets, narrowing spreads across exchanges and squeezing arbitrage opportunities. Market participants note that the era of near-riskless high returns may be over, and traders are shifting to more complex strategies in decentralized markets. CME states that institutional investors are diversifying from Bitcoin into other tokens like Ethereum.
Analysis: Bitcoin price may enter a “long-term consolidation” phase
According to Cointelegraph, analysis firms like Glassnode indicate that Bitcoin’s current price structure is fragile and may face prolonged consolidation. Bitcoin is confined within a wide range between the short-term holder cost basis of $98,400 and the real market mean of $81,100. Failure to recover key support levels could lead to a repeat of the long consolidation seen in Q1 2022. On-chain data shows a dense supply zone above $100,000, which exerts persistent selling pressure and may limit price breakthroughs at $98,400 and $100,000. Risk indicators have risen to 21, approaching high-risk territory, suggesting macro risks may persist. Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin ETF outflows have continued for three days, with a single-day outflow of $708.7 million on Wednesday—the largest in two months and the fifth-largest since launch in January 2024. This indicates institutional risk reduction. If the $84,000 support fails, prices could decline further.
Funding & Investment
BitGo IPO in US priced at $18/share, above the range, valuation exceeds $2 billion
According to Bloomberg, crypto custodian BitGo’s US IPO priced at $18 per share, above the previous $15–$17 range. The company and existing shareholders will sell 11.8 million shares, raising about $213 million, valuing the company at over $2 billion based on current shares outstanding. The IPO is underwritten by Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and BitGo will list on NYSE under ticker “BTGO” this Thursday, becoming the first crypto company to complete an IPO in 2026.
Argentine payments startup Pomelo completes $55 million Series C, plans stablecoin credit card
According to Bloomberg, Argentina-based fintech Pomelo completed $55 million Series C funding led by Kaszek and Insight Partners, aiming to deepen its Latin American presence and expand globally. Funds will be used to grow its credit card processing in Mexico and Brazil, and to launch a global credit card settled in stablecoin USDC. Pomelo also plans to develop cross-border real-time and intelligent payment systems for traditional banks and large international clients, with partners including Visa, Mastercard, Binance, and Western Union.
River secures $80 million strategic investment from TRON DAO to advance cross-ecosystem stablecoin integration
According to official sources, River announced an $80 million strategic investment from the TRON Foundation (TRON DAO). The funds will be used to deploy cross-ecosystem stablecoin infrastructure, support cross-chain assets, expand yield products, and deepen integration with TRON DeFi protocols. River connects multi-chain assets and TRON yield scenarios via satUSD, allowing users to mint satUSD 1:1 with USDT, USDD, and other assets to participate in TRON native DeFi. satUSD will be integrated into SUN stablecoin pools, WinkLink oracles, and JustLend lending markets, and will launch yield products like Smart Vault and Prime Vault to develop cross-chain finance.
According to official sources, River announced an $80 million strategic investment from the TRON Foundation (TRON DAO). The funds will be used to deploy cross-ecosystem stablecoin infrastructure, support cross-chain assets, expand yield products, and deepen integration with TRON DeFi protocols. River connects multi-chain assets and TRON yield scenarios via satUSD, allowing users to mint satUSD 1:1 with USDT, USDD, and other assets to participate in TRON native DeFi. satUSD will be integrated into SUN stablecoin pools, WinkLink oracles, and JustLend lending markets, and will launch yield products like Smart Vault and Prime Vault to develop cross-chain finance.
Tokenization startup Cork completes $5.5 million seed round led by a16z and CSX
According to The Block, startup Cork announced closing a $5.5 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), CSX, and Road Capital, with participation from 432 Ventures, BitGo Ventures, Cooley, DEPO Ventures, Funfair Ventures, G20 Group, Gate Labs, Hyperithm Gate, IDEO Ventures, PEER VC, Stake Capital, and WAGMI Ventures. Cork aims to build a “programmable risk layer” that makes risks embedded in real-world assets transparent and tradable via tokenization. Its infrastructure allows asset managers and issuers to create customized swap markets to improve on-chain asset redemption liquidity, risk transparency, and market confidence. The tool can also evaluate risks of stablecoins, staking tokens, and other crypto-native products. The team plans to launch its first production-grade risk markets in the coming months and expand partnerships with treasuries and asset issuers.
AI startup Humans& raises $480 million in seed funding, valuation hits $4.48 billion
According to TechCrunch citing The New York Times, humans&—founded by former Anthropic, xAI, and Google members—raised $480 million in seed funding, valuing the company at $4.48 billion. Investors include Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, SV Angel, GV, and Emerson Collective. The company develops AI tools to enhance human collaboration, with team members from OpenAI, Meta, AI2, MIT, focusing on multi-agent reinforcement learning, AI memory, and user understanding, aiming to reshape AI training and interaction.
OpenAI seeks Middle Eastern investors, aims to raise over $50 billion at a valuation of $830 billion
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently met with top investors in the Middle East, including Abu Dhabi sovereign funds, seeking a new funding round of at least $50 billion, with a valuation target of $750–830 billion. The funds will support the high costs of AI system development, including chips, data centers, and talent. OpenAI has previously partnered with Abu Dhabi’s MGX and G42 and plans to invest over $1.4 trillion in AI infrastructure over the next few years. The current round is still early-stage, and amounts may be adjusted.
Institutions
Bitmine buys another 34,954 ETH in two hours, worth over $100 million
According to Lookonchain, Tom Lee’s crypto investment firm Bitmine appears to have purchased 34,954 ETH from Kraken and BitGo in the past two hours, totaling about $105.5 million.
Mirana Ventures-related wallet deposits 13.65 million MNT into Bybit, worth $12.2 million
According to Onchain Lens, a wallet associated with Mirana Ventures deposited 13.65 million MNT (worth $12.2 million) into Bybit after holding it for three years.